• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.349-355
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• 2000

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been deposited on PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and glass substrates by a do magnetron sputter method of powder target without heat treatments such as substrate heater and post heat treatment. During the sputtering deposition, sputtering parameters such as sputtering power, working pressure, oxygen gas mixture, film thickness and substrate-target distance are important factors for the high quality of ITO thin films. The structural, electrical and optical properties of as-deposited ITO oxide films are investigated by sputtering power, oxygen partial pressure and films thickness among the several sputtering conditions. XRD patterns of ITO films are affected by sputtering power and pressure. As the power and pressure are increased, (411) and (422) peaks of ITO films are grown strongly. Electrical resistivity is also increased, as the sputtering power and pressure are increased. Transmittance of ITO thin films in the visible light ranges is lowered with an increase of sputtering power and film thickness. Reflectance of ITO films in infra-red region is decreased, as the power and pressure is increased.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.128-132
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• 2016

We investigated the effect of Ar ion sputtering on the surface electronic structure of indium tin oxide (ITO) using X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS) measurements with increasing Ar ion sputtering time. XPS measurements revealed that surface contamination on ITO was rapidly removed by Ar ion sputtering for 10 s. UPS measurements showed that the work function of ITO increased by 0.2 eV after Ar ion sputtering for 10 s. This increase in work function was attributed to the removal of surface contamination, which formed a positive interface dipole relative to the ITO substrate. However, further Ar ion sputtering did not change the work function of ITO although the surface stoichiometry of ITO did change. Therefore, removing the surface contamination is critical for increasing the work function of ITO, and Ar ion sputtering for a short time (about 10 s) can efficiently remove surface contamination.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.43-50
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• 2007

We have investigated the electro-optical characteristics and reliability of LEDs with the Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) electrodes formed by different deposition methods: electron beam evaporation, sputtering, and hybrid method of electron beam evaporation and subsequent sputtering. The deposition method of the ITO electrode has significant influence on the electro-optical characteristics and reliability of LEDs. The LEDs with the ITO electrodes formed by sputtering and electron beam evaporation have problems caused by sputtering damage and increased electrical resistance, respectively, and the problems have been solved by the hybrid method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2013

GaN based light emitting diodes (LEDs) are important devices that are being used extensively in our daily life. For example, these devices are used in traffic light lamps, outdoor full-color displays and backlight of liquid crystal display panels. To realize high-brightness GaN based LEDs for solid-state lighting applications, the development of p-type ohmic electrodes that have low contact resistivity, high optical transmittance and high refractive index is essential. To this effect, indiumtin oxide (ITO) have been investigated for LEDs. Among the transparent electrodes for LEDs, ITO has been one of the promising electrodes on p-GaN layers owing to its excellent properties in optical, electrical conductivity, substrate adhesion, hardness, and chemical inertness. Sputtering and e-beam evaporation techniques are the most commonly used deposition methods. Commonly, ITO films on p-GaN by sputtering have better transmittance and resistivity than ITO films on p-GaN by e-bam evaporation. However, ITO films on p-GaN by sputtering have higher specific contact resistance, it has been demonstrated that this is due to possible plasma damage on the p-GaN in the sputtering process. In this paper, we have investigated the advanced sputtering using plasma damage-free p-electrode. Prepared the ITO films on the GaN based LEDs by e-beam evaporation, normal sputtering and advanced sputtering. The ITO films on GaN based LEDs by sputtering showed better transmittance and sheets resistance than ITO films on the GaN based LEDs by e-beam evaporation. Finally, fabricated of GaN based LEDs by using advanced sputtering. And compared the electrical properties (measurement by using C-TLM) and structural properties (HR-TEM and FE-SEM) of ITO films on GaN based LEDs produced by e-beam evaporation, normal sputtering and advanced sputtering. As a result, It is expected to form plasma damage free-electrode, and better light output power and break down voltage than LEDs by e-beam evaporation and normal sputter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.427-431
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• 2000

ITO (indium tin oxide) thin films on PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and glass substrates have been deposited by a dc magnetron sputtering without heat treatments such as substrate heater and post heat treatment. Each sputtering parameter during the sputtering deposition is an important factor for the high quality of ITO thin films deposited on polymeric substrate. Particularly, the material, electrical and optical properties of as-deposited ITO oxide films are dominated by sputtering power, oxygen partial pressure and films thickness. As the experimental results, the XRD patters of ITO films are influenced by sputtering power and pressure. As the power and pressure are increased, (411) peak is grown suddenly. the electrical resistivity is also increased, as the sputteing power and pressure are increased. Transmittance of ITO thin films in visible light ranges is lowered with increasing the sputtering power and film thickness. Reflectance of ITO films in infia-red region is decreased, as the power and pressure is increased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.288-289
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• 2011

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a typical highly Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) currently used as a transparent electrode material. Most widely used deposition method is the sputtering process for ITO film deposition because it has a high deposition rate, allows accurate control of the film thickness and easy deposition process and high electrical/optical properties. However, to apply high quality ITO thin film in a flexible microelectronic device using a plastic substrate, conventional DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) processed ITO thin film is not suitable because it needs a high temperature thermal annealing process to obtain high optical transmittance and low resistivity, while the generally plastic substrates has low glass transition temperatures. In the room temperature sputtering process, the electrical property degradation of ITO thin film is caused by negative oxygen ions effect. This high energy negative oxygen ions(about over 100eV) can be critical physical bombardment damages against the formation of the ITO thin film, and this damage does not recover in the room temperature process that does not offer thermal annealing. Hence new ITO deposition process that can provide the high electrical/optical properties of the ITO film at room temperature is needed. To solve these limitations we develop the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) system. The MFSS is based on DMS and it has the plasma limiter, which compose the permanent magnet array (Fig.1). During the ITO thin film deposition in the MFSS process, the electrons in the plasma are trapped by the magnetic field at the plasma limiters. The plasma limiter, which has a negative potential in the MFSS process, prevents to the damage by negative oxygen ions bombardment, and increases the heat(-) up effect by the Ar ions in the bulk plasma. Fig. 2. shows the electrical properties of the MFSS ITO thin film and DMS ITO thin film at room temperature. With the increase of the sputtering pressure, the resistivity of DMS ITO increases. On the other hand, the resistivity of the MFSS ITO slightly increases and becomes lower than that of the DMS ITO at all sputtering pressures. The lowest resistivity of the DMS ITO is $1.0{\times}10-3{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and that of the MFSS ITO is $4.5{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. This resistivity difference is caused by the carrier mobility. The carrier mobility of the MFSS ITO is 40 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, which is significantly higher than that of the DMS ITO (10 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$). The low resistivity and high carrier mobility of the MFSS ITO are due to the magnetic field shielded effect. In addition, although not shown in this paper, the roughness of the MFSS ITO thin film is lower than that of the DMS ITO thin film, and TEM, XRD and XPS analysis of the MFSS ITO show the nano-crystalline structure. As a result, the MFSS process can effectively prevent to the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment and supply activation energies by accelerating Ar ions in the plasma; therefore, high quality ITO can be deposited at room temperature.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.22.1-22.1
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• 2011

In this study, off-axis RF magnetron sputtering was used for the crystallized ITO thin films at a low temperature of about $120^{\circ}C$ instead of the conventional RF sputtering because the off-axis sputtering can avoid the damage for the plasma as well as fabrication of thin films with a high quality. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the obtained films depending on deposition parameters, such as sputtering power, gas flow and working pressure, have been investigated. The ITO thin films grown on PET substrate at $120^{\circ}C$ were crystallized with a (222) preferred orientation. 100-nm thick ITO films showed a resistivity of about $4.2{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$ and a transmittance of about 81% at a wavelength of 550nm. The transmittance of the ITO thin films by an insertion of $SiO_2$ thin films on ITO films was improved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.379-380
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• 2007

The characteristics of a co-sputtered indium zinc tin oxide (IZTO) films prepared by dual target dc magnetron sputtering from IZO and ITO targets at a room temperature are investigated. Film properties, such as sheet resistance, optical transmittance, surface work function and surface roughness were examined as a function of ITO dc power at constant IZO dc power of 100 W. It was shown that the increase of the ITO dc power during co-sputtering of ITO and IZO target resulted in an increase of sheet resistance of the IZTO films. This can be attributed to high resistivity of ITO film prepared at room temperature. Surface smoothness and roughness were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The synchrotron x-ray scattering results obtained from IZTO film with different ITO contents showed that introduction of ITO atoms into amorphous IZO film resulted in a crystallization of IZTO film with (222) preferred orientation due to low alc transition temperature of ITO film. However, the transmittance of the IZTO films with thickness of 150 nm is between 80 and 85 % at wavelength of 550 nm regardless of ITO content. Possible mechanism to explain the ITO and IZO co-sputtering effect on properties of IZTO is suggested.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.259-259
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• 2015

Single crystalline indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) were grown by sputtering method. A thin Ni film of 5 nm was deposited before ITO sputtering. Thermal treatment forms Ni nanoparticles, which act as templates to diffuse Ni into the sputtered ITO layer to grow single crystalline ITO NWs. This Ni diffusion through an ITO NW was investigated by transmission electron microscope to observe the Ni-tip sitting on a single crystalline ITO NW. Meanwhile, a single crystalline ITO structure was found at bottom and body part of a single ITO NW without remaining of Ni atoms. This indicates the Ni atoms diffuse through the oxygen vacancies of ITO structure. Rapid thermal process (RTP) applied to generate an initial stage of a formation of Ni nanoparticles with variation in time periods to demonstrate the existence of an optimum condition to initiate ITO NW growth. Modulation in ITO sputtering condition was applied to verify the ITO NW growth or the ITO film growth. The Ni-assisted grown ITO layer has an improved electrical conductivity while maintaining a similar transmittance value to that of a single ITO layer. Electrically conductive and optically transparent nanowire-coated surface morphology would provide a great opportunity for various photoelectric devices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.397-400
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• 2013

Off-axis magnetron sputtering was used for the crystallized ITO thin films deposition at various temperatures from 25 to $120^{\circ}C$. The ITO thin films were crystallized at $50^{\circ}C$ for Si (001) substrates and at $75^{\circ}C$ for PET substrate. The ITO thin films grown onto PET substrate at $120^{\circ}C$ were crystallized with a (222) preferred orientation. The 160-nm thick ITO films showed a resistivity of about $7{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and a transmittance of about 84% at a wavelength of 550 nm. Off-axis sputtering can be applied for low temperature crystallization of the ITO films.